


Tongue-Tied

by DoctorCucumber



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Awkward Romance, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Kissing, Thirteenth Doctor in a Tuxedo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:35:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23400070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorCucumber/pseuds/DoctorCucumber
Summary: The Doctor lends a hand with a seemingly innocent request.  But of course, with the Doctor, things are never quite that simple.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Reader
Comments: 19
Kudos: 104





	Tongue-Tied

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ghostmonument](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostmonument/gifts).



> Happy Birthday Jenny!

The Doctor was wearing a tux and it was very, very distracting.

Her usual colorful ensemble had been replaced with similar pieces all in crisp black and white and you balked at the sight of her circling the console, flipping seemingly random levers and pushing just as many buttons.

She hadn’t noticed you yet, her attention turned entirely to the TARDIS. It was honestly endearing; you could watch her work like this for hours.

Unfortunately, your open staring couldn’t last forever. As she made another circuit around the TARDIS, a particularly dramatic flourish of her hands tilted her entire body back, causing her gaze to land straight onto you.

A dazzling smile lit up her face, and you couldn’t help but falter under the brilliance of her stare. All words flew from your head, and your mouth went too dry to talk even if you had been able to come up with something to say.

Luckily, there was never a shortage of words where the Doctor was involved. She took a step toward you, gesturing at your own outfit. “Wow, you- you look gr- look at you!”

There was surely a blush creeping up your cheeks as you averted your gaze, finding it much more bearable to look at your shoes. “Right back atcha, Doc, you took the words right out of my mouth.”

There was a pause then, neither of you knowing quite what to say.

Suddenly nervous, your fingers began playing with the silky piece of fabric in your hands. Might as well just come out and say it.

“You don’t know how to tie a bow tie, do you?” you blurted.

You cringed as the question slipped out; of course she knew, she was wearing one right now.

Thankfully, the Doctor didn’t seem put off by your unbearable awkwardness. She perked up at the question and beckoned you over to her.

As you approached the console, you began to grow more nervous. She would have to be close to help you, closer than she normally was. Close enough to make your head start to spin as you imagined the inevitable proximity, picturing her a breath away from your face, your lips, your -

You jolted out of your rapidly spiraling thoughts as the Doctor placed a gentle hand on your shoulder, guiding you to lean against the console. She stepped between your legs and you hoped she didn’t see you gulp nervously at her closeness as she slipped the tie from between your fingers.

Standing on her tiptoes, the Doctor looped the material around your neck, pulling it even across your chest. _Breathe, just breathe._

She frowned, an adorable wrinkle appearing on her forehead. “I’ve never actually done it on someone else before. I’m all backwards.”

You giggled as her eyes lit up, and before you knew what was happening, she grabbed you by the shoulders and spun you around. You stumbled as she turned you away from her, but her strong hands kept you upright.

The Doctor molded herself against your back, and you were suddenly pinned between her and the TARDIS. You felt her hands rest gently on your shoulders, urging you to relax. Her breath fanned against your neck, and you had to fight to suppress a shiver.

The Doctor rested her chin on your shoulder, and the proximity was almost too much. Surely she didn’t need to be this close. Her head ducked down to study the fabric carefully, deft fingers making precise movements and occasionally brushing gently against your neck.

She crossed one end of the fabric over the other, her knuckles brushing against the base of your throat as she did. _Just calm down, breathe._

You held your breath as her hand ghosted down your arm and grabbed your own, lifting it up to rest at the base of your neck.

“Here, hold this for a mo,” she whispered, folding what was starting to look like a bow together and tugging it away from your skin.

You grabbed the tie, probably a little too tightly. If your hands started shaking in front of her, it would all be over for you. This was in no way anything other than a totally innocent situation; it was just one friend helping another. Very close together.

“Alright, now here’s the tricky bit,” she muttered, and you turned slightly to see the tip of her tongue poking out between her lips in concentration.

You gulped, eyes widening as you prayed she hadn’t heard that. Who were you kidding, she was the closest she could possibly be to your throat, of course she’d heard you. Now, to make it out of this situation with even a shred of your dignity.

The Doctor pushed the loose end of the tie through the hole you were holding open, and her hands slammed down on your shoulders in triumph.

“There!” she practically shouted in your ear, grasping onto your shoulders and spinning you around like a top. She halted your momentum and gave you a pat, admiring her work. But a frown appeared on her face, and you glanced down in confusion and worry.

Her tongue was back between her teeth, and before you realized what the Doctor was doing, she was pushing you back toward the stairs behind the console.

Strong hands forced you down until you were sitting, gazing up at her towering over you. But she wasn’t for long; leaning toward your face, she seemed to realize that the height difference was going to be problematic.

“Now let me just-”

She sighed, bending closer to you and resting a knee between your legs as she almost lost her balance and toppled on top of you.

You held your breath as she scrutinized the bowtie she’d just helped you with, tugging on the ends to tighten and adjust it. She didn’t seem quite satisfied with it, as she yanked it into shape.

A crease appeared between her brows as she patted the material flat, noticing that part of it was twisted behind your neck.

Leaning forward, her fingertips brushed against the warm skin at the base of your head, tickling the fine hairs there. Part of the strap was twisted in on itself, and straightening it required more of her fingers brushing your skin than you thought you could handle.

The Doctor frowned in even deeper concentration, shifting forward until she was pressed flush against you, peering behind you in order to get a clearer look at what she was doing.

She gave a hum of satisfaction as she sorted the troublesome fabric, and she was so close that the vibrations resonated against your skin and made you shiver. You prayed that she didn’t notice the goosebumps that were certainly pebbling your skin at her proximity.

As she started to pull back to face you again, her lips grazed against your neck and you gasped. You both froze.

She pulled back slowly, giving you a curious look. Your eyes were wide with panic. Surely, you’d made her uncomfortable.

She was only trying to help you, and now you’d gone and made it weird.

But as she pulled back, she didn’t move to get off you, still straddling your leg.

“Sorry,” she said, eyes flickering hesitantly between your own.

“Don’t apologize,” you whispered.

You gulped as she gently pulled the fabric tighter, gazing at your face more than she was at the tie. You couldn’t tear your eyes off her to check, but you were sure there was a perfect bow tied at the base of your neck.

She sat back, a question in her eyes, hands still resting near your throat.

“Thank you,” you breathed.

“Of course,” she whispered back.

She didn’t move, and you didn’t want her to, despite the fact that you were now painfully aware of her weight in your lap, her hot knee pressed between your legs.

“I’m not making you uncomfortable, am I?”

You shook your head, completely dazed.

“Do you want me to move?”

Another dumb shake of your head. The only direction you wanted her to move was closer.

The Doctor’s eyes flicked down to your tie, lingering for the briefest of moments on your lips. You were frozen in place, a slave to her ministrations. Her hands ghosted over your shoulders, to glide up your neck and find their home on your cheeks, slowly and ever so softly.

The cool touch of her palms soothed the burning you felt in your face, and you couldn’t stop yourself from nuzzling into her touch.

She leaned forward, and you felt your heart nearly stop as you calculated where her trajectory would end.

Your brain short circuited. Surely, this wasn’t really happening. Maybe this was a dream. Maybe you fell and hit your head and you were hallucinating.

But her warm breath against your cheeks and the slight brush of her nose against your own felt real enough.

She faltered in her pursuit, pausing a hair's breadth away from pressing your lips together.

Suddenly, you couldn’t take the tension any longer. You surged forward, capturing her lips in a soft kiss. You wanted her, needed her, and you had to restrain yourself from going overboard.

The kiss was perfect, and even though you stumbled a bit at first, it was so sweet that it made up for any awkwardness.

You felt your knuckles turning white with your ironclad grip on the stairs, and you pulled back, hesitant to continue. Her eyes were still closed for a few moments as you moved away, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

The pause seemed to stretch on for an eternity, each of you staring at the other, waiting to see who would make a move. Without thinking too hard, you clutched at her braces, pulling her closer to you and crashing your lips together again.

But at that moment, you remembered exactly the precarious position you were in as she shifted forward, pressing her knee further between your legs.

You broke the kiss again, gasping and pressing your forehead into her shoulder.

She panted above you, and with every squirm of her hips, you felt like you were about to explode; you couldn’t take it anymore.

“Doctor,” you breathed.

“Sorry,” she blushed, shifting in your lap and running a hand through the hair at the nape of your neck.

“No, don’t apologize, never apologize,” you choked out, squeezing your eyes shut against the sensations she was pulling from your body. “You’re just- you’re driving me crazy, that’s all.”

Her face fell at that, and as she started to pull away from you, you panicked and tried to back track. “No no, no no no, I didn't mean it like that, in a good way, I meant it in a good way.”

She gave you a soft smile as you kept stumbling over your words. “You're just- doing things to me, that’s all. Maybe just- just move your knee maybe,” you squeaked as she squirmed on top of you again.

She glanced down and flushed beet red, apparently just fully realizing the position you were in. She moved to straddle your hips, and if anything that might have been even more irresistible.

She pressed you back further into the steps, and threw her arms around your neck, pulling you impossibly closer.

The back of your brain screamed at you to stop this right now, Graham or Ryan or, god forbid, Yaz could walk in on the two of you like this, and that was honestly the last thing you needed in your life right now. You knew you’d never hear the end of it from Yaz if she caught you.

And it's not like this was exactly where you were expecting the day to go. But every thought, every doubt, every insecurity flew out the window as the Doctor stroked your cheek, pressing a soft kiss to your nose and then your lips after flashing you another brilliant smile.

You could spend your whole life here with her pressed against you, her weight grounding you. Every movement was driving you insane in the best possible way and you never wanted it to end.

The Doctor’s hands ghosted down your neck until they landed on your freshly tied bow tie. Smirking against your mouth, her fingers wriggled into the loop, pulling it loose.

A completely different kind of gasp slipped from your lips. “Doctor, you just tied that!”

She giggled, pulling it looser. “Don’t worry, I'll do it again.”

Free of the tight tie, her nimble fingers fell to the top button of your shirt, practically ripping it open along with the next two. Her head dipped down, and the press of her warm lips against your collarbone pulled a strangled groan from your mouth.

This was escalating rather quickly. You couldn’t be sure how long you had even been sitting here with her, only living in the present, feeling every inch of her against you. But you really just wanted this to last forever.

Your fingers pulled her closer, mussing her hair adorably in the process. There were definitely too many layers of clothing between you, and your hands slipped under her suit jacket, pushing it from her shoulders.

Her hands trailed down your sides, and you couldn’t suppress shivers. Deft fingers ghosted along your waistband, thumb resting on the button of your trousers. She pulled back, face flushed, lips swollen.

“Do you want to stop?”

You shook your head, maybe a little too violently. “Please don’t.”

She grinned and ducked her head again, returning her lips to the sensitive skin of your neck and pressing kisses where the knot of the bow tie once sat.

You groaned as you pulled her closer, but suddenly, without warning, a hand clamped over your mouth and she was pulling back, looking at you with wide eyes.

“Sorry, sorry,” you choked out, the noise muffled by her palm. You weren’t sure what you’d done to make her stop, but you knew you were sorry that she had.

She shook her head distractedly, glancing toward the hallway opposite you.

Before you knew what was happening, she was scrambling off you, leaning against the console with one hand in what you were assuming she thought was a casual pose. 

Her body blocked your view of the hallway, and the situation finally clicked as you heard footsteps approaching the console room. It was at times like these when you were more than grateful that the Doctor seemed to have bionic hearing; if it was up to you, you would have surely been caught.

“Oi, where is everyone then?” you heard Graham grumble past the Doctor.

She scratched her head, and although you couldn’t see it, you assumed her face was scronching adorably.

“Don’t know about Ryan and Yaz, but we’re just tying ties- gettin’ bow ties tied, tying them up, tie-“

“I got it, yeah, Doc,” Graham chuckled as he lovingly cut off her rambling. He glanced over her shoulder, giving you a somewhat suspicious look.

You ran a hand over your hair, hoping you were successfully smoothing it down. You prayed you didn’t look too terribly disheveled.

“Hello, love. Y’know, I think you need them top buttons done up to wear a bow tie,” he said, patting his own neck.

You felt your face flush as you fumbled with the shirt, suddenly oddly thankful the Doctor hadn’t been able to make progress with your trousers.

“I’ll go find the kids then, I suppose,” he sighed, shooting you both another dubious look before reluctantly disappearing back into the depths of the TARDIS.

The Doctor watched him retreat, and after what felt like an eternity, she turned back to you, sighing with relief. Her shoulders sagged, and she sank down to her knees in front of you, tentatively resting her hands on your thighs.

A soft smile lit up her face as she leaned forward, gently fastening the buttons near your neck. She pushed you back into the stairs a bit further, and it was uncomfortable, but there was nowhere else in the universe you’d rather be right now than here, with her.

“Better keep it on this time, lest we get stuck in a loop,” she muttered, shooting you a lopsided grin.

And with that, you wanted to blurt out everything you’d been thinking, all your feelings that had bubbled up in just a few moments, threatening to boil over. How you felt about her, thought about her, couldn’t _stop_ thinking about her.

But with the way she was looking at you, you thought she must have known. Neither of you really needed to say anything, and that realization filled your chest with enough warmth to nearly burst through. A talk could come later, but you knew in your heart that you were on the same page.

Almost to prove your unspoken point, she leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to your lips, running her hand softly through your hair before reluctantly backing away, hands returning to the fabric laced delicately around your neck.

Her fingers started moving again, and you grinned contentedly, studying her face, which was concentrating entirely on you.

You sighed, filled to the brim with happiness.

For now, this was more than enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so this was ridiculous, but I just love her in the suit. Sue me.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry! I kinda chickened out, I couldn't make it smuttier without getting too flustered to type, I really tried, I swear.


End file.
